Week #11--Renaissance of Contemporary African-American Cinema

The late 1980s and early 1990s offered films that centralized the Black gay male subject through the experimentation of documentary conventions. Isaac Julien’s Looking for Langston (1988) and Marlon Riggs’ Tongues Untied (1990) shift the focus of Black gay male identity from the periphery to the center in both a historical and contemporary context. Through the use of archival footage of early 20th century Harlem, a televised performance by Langston Hughes, and the brief voiceover narration of Stuart Hall, Julien uses familiar components of the documentary to create what he identifies as a meditation. This classification offers Julien the flexibility to both explore the sexual identity of Hughes and other male luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance. The lack of cooperation from the poet’s estate limit Julien’s attempts to create a straightforward documentary, but he creates an opportunity to present 1920s Harlem in a funeral and a nightclub setting. Hughes is aligned with other Black gay male writers such as James Baldwin, Bruce Nugent, and Essex Hemphill, which enables Julien to shift back and forth from his dramatized presentation of Harlem nightlife to a dreamlike sequence that includes an ambiguous exterior setting and a sex scene that shifts between intra-racial and interracial sexual desire. In the segment that focuses on sexual intimacy, Julien uses the interracial component to address whether or not artists and writers of the Harlem Renaissance were legitimately celebrated for their offerings, or if the essence of their art was appropriated for a brief period of time. The final scene incorporates contemporary club music to illuminate the threat of anti-gay violence, signified by the mob of men who bang outside of the door. By utilizing new techniques with the documentary form, Looking for Langston offers a new insight into a prominent historical figure.

Riggs uses poetry in Tongues Untied to explore the many facets of present-day Black gay male identity (i.e. the late 1980s/early 1990s). The focus of the documentary often shifts from the collective burdens faced by Black gay men to Riggs’s personal reflections on fighting racism, homophobia, and complete isolation. While Riggs uses songs, poems, portraits, and monologues to address topical and intimate matters, one of his most effective conventions is the close-up that reveals one’s mouth, but conceals one’s eyes. One moment is the previously mentioned scene where Riggs talks about his childhood, and these close-ups are used to hurl slurs to reflect a violent infliction of identities. Later, Riggs applies these shots to confront the homophobic perspectives from the Black community, most notably the church and Black activists. Riggs intercuts clips from Eddie Murphy’s concert films Delirious and Raw, plus Spike Lee’s School Daze to illustrate how Black popular culture reinforces the condemnation of Black gay men.

Spike Lee has attracted criticism throughout his career for offering a point of view through his films that rarely privileges women or people from the LGBT community. His third feature film, Do the Right Thing (1989), may not do much to silence these concerns, but the film significantly continues Lee’s attempts to offer a new representation of African-American life in mainstream American cinema. On the hottest day of the year in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn (New York City), Lee not only centralizes both historical and topic issues that concern African Americans, but he does so through the cinematic techniques he employs. As you watch the film, consider how it opens, and how the dance sequence and the setting anticipate what takes place throughout. Also, identify how different spaces are established in the neighborhood by different demographics. How does Lee utilize editing and cinematography, particularly shot/reverse shot and direct address to the camera, when confrontational moments arise? Also with editing and cinematography, how does Lee incorporate mise-en-scene in both interior and exterior shots, and how does the placement of characters and objects reflect the climate of the neighborhood (literally and figuratively)?